Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Bryce Miller

Mariners Select Sauryn Lao

By | at

The Mariners announced a series of roster moves today, including the previously-reported reinstatement of Bryce Miller from the 15-day injured list. They also selected the contract of fellow righty Sauryn Lao. To open active roster spots for those two, righties Jackson Kowar and Casey Legumina were both optioned to Triple-A Tacoma. To open a 40-man spot for Lao, righty Trent Thornton has been transferred to the 60-day injured list.

Last night, Seattle starter Logan Gilbert had a surprisingly rough start. He lasted only two innings against the Phillies but not before allowing six runs. To get through the rest of the game, the M’s got three innings from Carlos Vargas, two from Legumina and one from Kowar. Legumina tossed 38 pitches and Kowar 30.

Miller is starting tonight and it’s unclear how much length he can give. He has been on the IL for over two months due to elbow inflammation. He got to 5 2/3 innings and 76 pitches in his most recent rehab start. It’s possible he could give the M’s something like that tonight but there’s also some natural uncertainty. To freshen up the bullpen behind Miller, the M’s have sent out Kowar and Legumina to bring in Lao.

Lao was selected to the roster in April. He got to make his major league debut on April 22nd, tossing one and two thirds scoreless innings. He was optioned to the minors the next day and designated for assignment a week later. He cleared outright waivers, allowing the Mariners to bring him back in a non-roster capacity.

Interestingly, the M’s have been stretching him out in Triple-A, even though he’s primarily been a reliever throughout his career. He has thrown 66 innings over 21 appearances this year with a flat earned run average of 3.00. He has struck out 26.3% of batters faced while limiting walks to a 6.7% clip. That should allow him to provide the M’s with multiple innings of relief, if needed.

As for Thornton, it was reported a couple of weeks ago that he is done for the season due to a torn left Achilles tendon. He will be spending the rest of the year on the IL. He is making $2MM in 2025 and could be retained for 2026 via arbitration. However, given his health uncertainty, it’s entirely possible the Mariners decide to non-tender him.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Mariners To Activate Bryce Miller On Tuesday

By | at

The Mariners are activating starter Bryce Miller from the injured list tomorrow, manager Dan Wilson tells reporters (including MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer). He’ll go opposite NL Cy Young candidate Cristopher Sánchez in the second game of their series against the Phillies. While Miller has been out for over two months, Seattle never transferred him to the 60-day injured list. They’ll therefore only need to make an active roster transaction tomorrow.

Miller will take an MLB mound for the first time since June 6. He has been sidelined since then by elbow inflammation. The righty received a platelet-rich plasma injection and was able to rehab without anything more invasive. He has made a trio of rehab starts with Triple-A Tacoma this month. Miller got up to 5 2/3 innings and 76 pitches in his most recent appearance last Wednesday. He allowed a pair of runs on two hits and a walk while recording four strikeouts.

Perhaps more importantly, Miller’s velocity has looked sharp on the rehab assignment. He’s averaging 96.4 MPH on his fastball, more than two ticks higher than his early-season MLB work. Miller struggled over his first couple months, allowing 5.73 earned runs per nine while averaging fewer than five innings per start. His 18.1% strikeout rate was down more than six percentage points compared to last season. Miller was one of the better pitchers in MLB a year ago, taking the ball 31 times and working to a 2.94 ERA across 180 1/3 frames.

Miller will try to recapture last year’s form as the M’s battle the Astros for the AL West crown. Seattle is a game and a half back while holding a 3.5 game cushion on the Guardians in the Wild Card picture. They’ve dropped five of their past six but have been aided by Houston losing four of their last six games. Miller will step into the rotation in place of rookie righty Logan Evans, who went on the IL with his own elbow issue last week.

Mariners’ Bryce Miller Out Four To Six Weeks With Elbow Inflammation

By | at

8:03pm: Booth relays this evening that, according to Mariners GM Justin Hollander, Miller met with elbow specialist Dr. Keith Meister today and received a platelet-rich plasma injection in his ailing elbow. Miller won’t throw for the next two weeks, and Booth suggests that Miller could return to the Mariners in four-to-six weeks.

11:50am: The moves have now been formally announced by the team. Miller has been placed on the 15-day IL, retroactive to June 7, with elbow inflammation. Evans has been recalled from Tacoma and will indeed start tonight’s game.

9:00am: The Mariners are placing righty Bryce Miller back on the 15-day injured list, reports Tim Booth of the Seattle Times. Fellow right-hander Logan Evans will be summoned back from Triple-A Tacoma to make tonight’s start against the D-backs in his place.

Miller was out for most of May due to inflammation in his right elbow. The Mariners hoped a cortisone injection would calm down the pain and allow Miller to reclaim his spot in the rotation, but that clearly didn’t pan out. The 26-year-old Miller made two starts between IL stints and was rocked for eight runs on 11 hits and a pair of walks with only four strikeouts in nine innings. Between that pair of dismal outings and a another pair of clunkers that preceded his original IL stint, Miller has yielded 19 runs over his past 18 frames.

In some respects, Miller has seemed off all season. He posted a solid 3.52 ERA and 24% strikeout rate in his first six starts of the season but did so while walking nearly 15% of his opponents. That’s a huge departure from Miller’s excellent 5.7% walk rate in 2023-24, the first two seasons of his big league career. His average fastball has also dipped this year, falling from 95.2 mph in 2024 to 94.5 mph in 2025. He’s also allowing hard contact and line drives at the highest rates of his career.

From 2023-24, Miller posted a 3.52 ERA, 23.4% strikeout rate and 5.7% walk rate in 311 2/3 innings, cementing himself among Seattle’s long-term rotation plans in the process. Prior to this year, he’d been as durable as one can hope from a starter in today’s game. Miller skipped a couple starts in 2023 due to a series of blisters on his pitching hand, but this pair of IL placements due to elbow inflammation are the first two IL stints for actual arm injuries in either the big leagues or the minors. He started 31 games in 2024, 29 in 2023 (25 in MLB, four in Triple-A) and 26 in 2022.

There’s no immediate timetable on Miller’s absence. Given the rocky results and the inefficacy of the most recent cortisone injection, it seems fair to expect he could be sidelined for longer than the 19 days he missed on his last IL stint. The team will presumably have more information in the near future — if not when the IL placement is formalized today then in the days ahead.

In the meantime, the 24-year-old Evans will get another look in the big leagues. It’s well earned. A 12th-round senior sign out of Pittsburgh who commanded just a $100K draft bonus in 2023, Evans has quickly proven to be one of the more notable late-round steals in recent memory. He skyrocketed through the Mariners’ system last year and pitched so well that there was talk of a potential call to the big leagues just a year after he was drafted.

That didn’t come to pass, but Evans entered the year considered among the top 10 prospects in an absolutely stacked Mariners farm system and received his first call to the big leagues in late April. He’s since made six starts in the majors and posted a 2.83 ERA in 35 innings. His 17.4% strikeout rate is well below average, but his 6.9% walk rate is strong and his deep six-pitch arsenal gives opposing hitters a variety of average or slightly better offerings to keep in mind while facing him. Both Baseball America and MLB.com tout him as a high-probability fourth starter and note that his 6’4″ frame is that of a prototypical innings eater.

Evans will join Bryan Woo, Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Emerson Hancock in the Seattle rotation for the time being. Woo and Castillo have both been excellent this season. Kirby missed the first eight weeks of the year with shoulder inflammation and stumbled out of the gate but has looked sensational over his past two starts, logging a flat 3.00 ERA with a 17-to-1 K/BB ratio in 12 innings. Hancock has made nine very good starts (combined 3.26 ERA in 49 2/3 innings) and two terrible starts (combined 13 runs in 5 2/3 innings), balancing out to a lackluster 5.04 ERA.

Logan Gilbert, arguably the Mariners’ top starter, has been on the shelf since late April due to a flexor strain but is expected back soon. He’s made two rehab appearances already and is scheduled to make a third — and, per Booth, perhaps final — rehab start for Tacoma tonight.

Mariners Promote Cole Young, Activate Bryce Miller

By | at

TODAY: The M’s officially announced Young’s selection and Miller’s reinstatement from the IL. Right-hander Casey Legumina and infielder Leo Rivas were optioned to Triple-A in corresponding 26-man roster moves, and righty Will Klein was designated for assignment to open up space for Young on the 40-man roster.

Klein made his MLB debut in 2024 and posted an 11.05 ERA over 7 1/3 combined innings with the Royals and Athletics.  Sent to the A’s as part of the deadline deal that brought Lucas Erceg to Kansas City, Klein was then flipped to Seattle in another trade this past January.

MAY 30: The Mariners will promote top infield prospect Cole Young this weekend, reports Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. He is not yet on the 40-man roster, so the team will need to make a move in that regard. They’ll also need to create active roster space for Young and starting pitcher Bryce Miller, who’ll be reinstated from the 15-day injured list to start tomorrow’s game against the Twins.

A Pittsburgh-area native, Young signed with Seattle out of high school in 2022. He received a $3.3MM bonus as the 21st overall pick. Scouting reports praised a potential plus hit tool and ability to play somewhere up the middle. While Young doesn’t have huge power projection in a 5’11” frame, he was viewed as a very polished player for his age.

That has been borne out in his systematic progression through the minors. He reached base at a .399 clip between two A-ball levels in his first full professional season. Young spent all of last season in Double-A, batting .271/.369/.390 as a 20-year-old in a tough league for hitters. The M’s bumped him to the more favorable Pacific Coast League this season. Young has taken to it well, running a .278/.391/.463 slash with more walks than strikeouts in his first look at Triple-A pitching.

The lefty-hitting Young actually began his Triple-A career mired in a slump. He hit .200 without a home run over 25 games in April. He’s been on an absolute tear since the calendar flipped. Young has raked at a .370/.466/.680 clip over 118 plate appearances in May. He has connected on five home runs, 10 doubles and three triples among a total of 37 hits. He has added another 15 walks while striking out all of eight times.

Young couldn’t have done more this month to force his way to the big leagues. He has divided his time evenly between shortstop and second base this season. Baseball America wrote over the offseason that he’s likely better suited for second base because of average arm strength. That figures to be his long-term home in Seattle. They’re committed to J.P. Crawford at shortstop. The path to playing time at the keystone is much more open. Ryan Bliss will miss most of the season recovering from biceps surgery. Miles Mastrobuoni and Dylan Moore have split the second base work over the past few weeks.

Moore is having a strong year, though his bat has tailed off following a huge April. He’s a right-handed hitter with a long track record of producing against lefty pitching. Moore figures to take some starts at second base against southpaws, but he’s versatile enough that it doesn’t need to be a strict platoon. Moore can spell Leody Taveras in right field or play regularly at third base over rookie Ben Williamson, who is hitting .246/.278/.297 through his first 38 games. Mastrobuoni, acquired in an offseason DFA trade with the Cubs, carries a .221/.306/.284 line through 111 plate appearances. He’ll be bumped to a utility role if not optioned to Triple-A.

Young was a consensus Top 100 prospect over the offseason. He meets the criteria for the Prospect Promotion Incentive. If he plays well enough to finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year balloting, he could earn a full year of service time. A’s shortstop Jacob Wilson seems as if he’ll run away with the award, but the runner-up spot is still there for the taking. That would not earn the Mariners any kind of draft compensation, which only applies if the team carries a top prospect in the big leagues for at least 172 days.

If he doesn’t earn the top-two Rookie of the Year finish, Young will fall short of a full service year and remain under club control for at least six seasons beyond this one. He’d be well-positioned to qualify for early arbitration as a Super Two player during the 2027-28 offseason if he’s in the big leagues for good.

AL West Notes: Trout, Soler, Seager, Gilbert, Miller

By | at

Mike Trout is seemingly nearing a return to action, as the Angels superstar has been taking part in batting practice sessions and running drills, and is set to start running the bases within the next few days’ time.  Trout has been out since April 30 due to a bone bruise in his left knee, and when he does get back, it isn’t clear whether or not Trout will return to outfield duty or if he’ll get more time as a DH in order to help preserve his health.  Halos manager Ron Washington told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register and other reporters that the focus right now is just on getting Trout healthy, and “once Mike is back, we can have that conversation right there” about his spot in the lineup.

After years as the Halos’ center fielder, Trout began 2025 in right field, already as a way to try and reduce the wear-and-tear on the oft-injured star.  Of course, if Trout takes on more of a regular DH role, that would force Jorge Soler into more right field work, which wouldn’t bode well for the L.A. defense given Soler’s long history of subpar glovework.  While Washington has felt Soler has “done an outstanding job” in 13 appearances as a right fielder this season, the team feels keeping Soler in right field only in limited fashion is the best solution to help Soler’s overall game.  “Running him out there five, six days in a row, we’re not going to do that.  But give him two days, a change from just hitting, will help him focus more,” Washington said.

More injury updates from around the AL West…

  • Corey Seager hasn’t played since May 10 due to a right hamstring strain, though Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told reporters (including Shawn McFarland of the Dallas Morning News) that the star shortstop could be ready to return at some point this week.  Friday seems to be the loose target date, though Seager could be back earlier given the increased ramp-up of his prep work — Seager has been taking part in running and fielding drills, and also took part in a live batting practice on Saturday.  The plan is to have these baseball activities get Seager into game-ready mode without the need for a minor league rehab assignment.  This is already Seager’s second hamstring-related IL stint of the season, which is why he has been limited to 26 games and 107 plate appearances in 2025.  As usual, Seager has been excellent (.300/.346/.520 with six home runs) when he has been able to play, and the offensively-challenged Rangers could badly use that bat in their struggling lineup.
  • Mariners starters Bryce Miller and Logan Gilbert each threw simulated games on Friday, with Miller throwing around 25 pitches and Gilbert going higher with 35.  It was exactly a month ago that Gilbert was pulled from a start due to a flexor strain in his right elbow, and while Friday’s session was a good step forward, the right-hander suggested to MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer and other reporters that he has a ways to go in his throwing progression.  This could mean another sim game and perhaps multiple minor league rehab starts before Gilbert is back in Seattle’s rotation.
  • Miller (on the 15-day IL since May 12 due to elbow inflammation) is hopeful of returning as early as this week, though manager Dan Wilson expressed some caution.  In perhaps more of a long-term concern, Miller told Kramer and company that some tests revealed that his elbow was structurally fine overall, but “there’s something in there that causes inflammation and something I can’t just take out without missing the rest of the year.  So this ideally gets me to the end of the year, and then we can reassess and see if I need to clean it up or anything.”  These comments somewhat expand on the lingering health issues the righty hinted at when speaking with the media at the time of his initial IL placement, and the exact nature of these injuries may not be known until or unless Miller does get a clean-up procedure at season’s end.  With a 5.22 ERA over his first 39 2/3 innings this year, something has clearly seemed amiss with Miller’s performance, and there’s naturally some risk in trying to tough out several more months of pitching before properly addressing the problem.

Mariners Place Bryce Miller On IL With Elbow Inflammation

By | at

1:00pm: Miller spoke to reporters, with video relayed by Adam Jude of The Seattle Times. He revealed that he had a cortisone shot and said that an MRI showed no structural damage. He’s hoping to return after a minimal IL stint.

11:50am: The Mariners announced today that right-hander Bryce Miller has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to May 12th, due to right elbow inflammation. Left-hander Jhonathan Díaz has been recalled to take his place on the roster.

The club hasn’t yet provided any updates on the severity of Miller’s injury or how long they expect him to be out, but it’s always worrisome when a pitcher’s throwing elbow is injured. His most recent start was against the Blue Jays on Sunday, which did not go well, as he allowed seven earned runs in five innings.

Afterwards, he spoke of some physical issues he’s been battling this season but without getting too specific, alluding to some arm soreness and back tightness. “In the past, it felt like I could get through six innings, it’s a breeze,” Miller said, per Daniel Kramer of MLB.com. “I’d feel as good as I do in the sixth as I did in the first. And it’s been a struggle to have that feeling so far. So I don’t know. We’re going to work on it.” Though he didn’t provide many details, Miller continued: “I’ve had multiple things that kind of have lingered since, really, the end of last season, and I kind of took them through the offseason. I thought that I’d be feeling good, and I haven’t felt like myself, body-wise and physically. I think that’s led to being more on my heels mentally, and it just kind of snowballed.”

Miller’s velocity is down a bit compared to last year. He averaged 95.2 miles per hour on his fastball in 2024 and was in that range for much of the early parts of the season as well. So far this year, he’s down to 94.4 mph. Most of his other pitches are down a tick or two as well.

As Miller alluded to, getting deeper into games has been an issue. He hasn’t yet gone six frames in a start this year. His first two outings were his only two going more than five innings. Last year, he went seven innings seven times and six or above an additional 13 times.

The righty is currently sporting a 5.22 earned run average on the year, a big jump from last year’s 2.94 ERA. His 20.1% strikeout rate is a few points below last year’s 24.3% mark, while his walk rate has almost doubled from 6.4% to 12.1%.

Perhaps the physical issues provide a partial explanation for the declining results, but it’s still an unpleasant development for the M’s, who are already dealing with a depleted rotation. George Kirby has been on the IL all season so far due to shoulder inflammation. Logan Gilbert followed him to the IL in late April, suffering from a flexor strain in his pitching elbow.

The Mariners were hoping to start the season with an elite rotation consisting of Miller, Kirby, Gilbert, Bryan Woo and Luis Castillo. That was such a talented group that trade rumors swirled around them all winter. The Seattle front office downplayed the possibility of a trade and is surely glad that they resisted the temptation to flip pitching for more offense, as they are now without three of their projected starting five.

Kirby has been on a rehab assignment and is expected to make one more appearance in the minors before rejoining the major league club next week. Gilbert is perhaps a bit behind Kirby, though he did throw a bullpen yesterday, per Kramer.

For the time being, the Mariners will proceed with a rotation consisting of Castillo, Woo, Logan Evans and Emerson Hancock. Castillo is starting today’s game and then the club is off tomorrow. Díaz can perhaps make a spot start or serve as a long reliever out of the bullpen. That might be a short stay with Kirby due back soon, but both Evans and Hancock currently have ERAs at 6.60 or above, so perhaps one of them could get bumped out instead.

Photo courtesy of Steven Bisig, Imagn Images

Logan Gilbert Expressing Interest In Future Extension With Mariners

By | at

As the regular season gets underway, fans in Seattle enter the year on the heels of an offseason that didn’t see the Mariners make many significant changes to the roster, with veteran infielder Donovan Solano standing as the club’s most notable addition. Even after that quiet winter and missing the postseason in both 2024 and ’23, however, the team still remains in good position to compete in 2025 thanks primarily to an elite starting rotation that features four young, homegrown arms with front-of-the-rotation abilities: Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryce Miller, and Bryan Woo. Seattle resisted overtures from clubs all around the league regarding their top starters this winter, and Adam Jude of the Seattle Times indicates that the club could have an eye on keeping those young arms in town long-term.

“Frankly, I’d love to see all the four young pitchers stay here,” Mariners chairman John Stanton told Jude. “It takes an interest on the players part and an interest on the organization’s part. But I think we, as an organization, are real believers in having a core group. There’s some symmetry … in keeping a group together that is as talented as our guys are, and I feel great about that.”

Stanton’s comments track with the club’s organizational philosophy of prioritizing extending their in-house talent rather than signing players in free agency. Julio Rodriguez, Luis Castillo, and J.P. Crawford are among the current Mariners who have signed lucrative extensions with the club after either being developed by the club or acquired via trade. Just before Opening Day, the Mariners added another player to that list when they locked up star catcher Cal Raleigh on a six-year extension that will keep him in Seattle through at least the end of the 2030 season. The $105MM pact, which comes with $99.4MM in new money, locks up Raleigh after a three-season stretch where he emerged as one of the best offensive catchers in the sport and on the heels of a Gold Glove winning 2024 season.

Raleigh’s strides behind the plate have been such that he’s been nearly universally lauded among the Mariners’ pitching staff, with Gilbert in particular offering effusive praise for his longtime battery mate. Jude relays that the right-hander noted that the club’s decision to extend Raleigh “definitely” gives him further reason to stay in Seattle long-term, though it’s clear that Gilbert has interest in an extension even outside of continue to work with Raleigh.

“[The Mariners] know where I stand,” Gilbert said, as relayed.by Jude. “Seattle has become like home for me, and I’d love to be able to finish my career here.”

It’s less clear where Kirby, Woo, and Miller stand on the possibility of signing with the club long-term, but Gilbert’s desire to stick around is surely encouraging news for Mariners fans. The club’s ace has been among the most reliable pitchers in baseball since his breakout 2022 campaign, with a 3.36 ERA (112 ERA+) and a 3.50 FIP since then. He’s combined those solid results with durability that’s become rare in today’s game. In each of the past three seasons, Gilbert has posted between 32 and 33 starts, and his 208 2/3 innings of work in his first career All-Star campaign last year led the major leagues and helped him to a sixth-place finish in AL Cy Young award voting.

With two seasons of team control remaining after this one and his 28th birthday approaching in May, it seems as though Gilbert is entering a phase of his career where an extension could make plenty of sense for both sides, guaranteeing the righty significant money through his early-to-mid 30s while extending the Mariners’ window of control through the rest of Gilbert’s prime.

All this being said, it doesn’t appear likely that a deal is around the corner. Gilbert acknowledged to Jude that it’s been “a while” since the Mariners approached his camp about the possibility of an extension, and added that he would be hesitant about opening up extension talks during the season. Those comments would suggest that, if an extension between the sides were going to come together, it would most likely wait until the coming offseason, when Gilbert will be preparing for his penultimate trip through arbitration.

Poll: The Mariners’ Dilemma In Dealing From The Rotation

By | at

If there’s one standout trait about the Mariners headed in 2025, it’s their elite rotation; Seattle has the most impressive collection of young, cost-controlled starting pitching talent in the majors right now. Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryce Miller, and Bryan Woo combined for more than 700 innings of 3.18 ERA baseball in 2024. Gilbert, who turns 28 in May, is the oldest of the group and the quartet has a combined 17 seasons of team control remaining.

That crop of talented young starters is the envy of the rest of the league, but if there’s a second standout trait about the 2025 Mariners it’s their questionable offense. Cal Raleigh is among the best offensive catchers in the game, but the lineup offers little certainty outside of him. Julio Rodriguez has superstar upside but didn’t show it for much of last year as he entered July hitting just .247/.297/.327. Randy Arozarena managed an excellent 11.7% walk rate down the stretch after being traded to the Mariners midseason, but hit just five home runs in 54 games and was worth just 1.9 fWAR overall last year between his time in Seattle and Tampa.

The trio of Raleigh, Rodriguez, and Arozarena all project to be above average hitters in 2025, but the rest of the lineup is well below average. Victor Robles enjoyed a career year after joining the Mariners midseason last year, but his elite performance in Seattle was carried by a .388 BABIP. Between that extreme good fortune with batted ball luck and his career .236/.311/.356 (81 wRC+) slash line prior to joining the Mariners, it’s hard to expect more than league average production from Robles in 2025. Dylan Moore and Luke Raley both posted solid numbers in 2025 but are platoon players who can’t be relied on in everyday roles, while J.P. Crawford, Mitch Haniger, and Mitch Garver were all well below average hitters in 2024.

The club’s only addition to the offense to this point has been Donovan Solano, who posted solid numbers in 2024 but figures to join Moore and Raley as another part-time player. A combination of Moore, Raley, and Solano seem likely to be capable of handling first and second base, but the club’s lineup still has a gaping hole at the hot corner after non-tendering Josh Rojas and declining Jorge Polanco’s club option. MLBTR explored the third base market as it pertains to the Mariners earlier this month, but none of the free agent options that fit their budget and lower-level trade candidates available are particularly inspiring.

The Mariners have been hesitant to trade from their excellent rotation, only reluctantly listening to offers on pricey veteran Luis Castillo and seemingly shutting down discussions regarding their young core of arms entirely. But shopping a cost-controlled, elite starting pitcher could open up new possibilities for the club to add impact talent that wouldn’t have been available otherwise. The Red Sox reportedly dangled an impact youngster in first baseman Triston Casas in exchange for either Miller or Woo earlier this winter, and it’s easy to imagine rotation-needy clubs offering similarly impactful talent in exchange for a young arm of that caliber.

Dangling Gilbert or Kirby would surely land the Mariners an even more enticing package in exchange given their solid track records of front-of-the-rotation work in the majors to this point. The Orioles, for example, have a deep group of positional talent but are in need of an impact starter. It’s not impossible to imagine Baltimore being willing to part with an established young talent like Jordan Westburg as the headliner in a package for someone like Gilbert, perhaps packaged with a less impactful cost-controlled arm like Dean Kremer to ease the blow to Seattle’s rotation.

Turning away from the Orioles, Mark Vientos of the Mets and Matt McLain of the Reds are among the other high-end, cost-controlled third basemen who the Mariners could theoretically seek as a headliner in a package for one of their top starters, though neither is quite as valuable as Westburg. Of course, such deals are easier to propose than actually execute. While a team like Cincinnati packaging McLain with one of their own rotation arms like Nick Lodolo in order to land an elite talent like Gilbert could make sense on paper, the injury history of both players could give the Mariners plenty of pause about giving up one of their most valuable assets for little in the way of certainty and the Reds may be equally hesitant to offer up two established players with All-Star upside in exchange for one.

That’s just one example, of course, but it’s equally difficult to imagine the Mariners lining up on the right trade package for a player as valuable as Gilbert or Kirby with the vast majority of rival clubs. High-end, cost-controlled starting pitching is the single most desirable asset in the sport, and while fans of rival teams have long dreamed of their GM working out a trade with Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto to bring one of the Mariners’ young aces to town they’d surely start feeling queasy about the possibility upon seeing just how much their team would need to part with in order to land such a coveted talent.

If you were in the Mariners’ shoes, how would you approach the situation? Would you take the same course Dipoto has and simply refuse to seriously entertain offers for your elite group of young pitchers, looking to upgrade the team in other ways like by dealing Castillo? Would you listen to offers while holding firm on a high asking price? Or would you compromise on the value of one of your top assets in order to help bolster an offense in desperate need of impact? Have your say in the poll below:

Mariners Turned Down Triston Casas Trade Offer From Red Sox

By | at

The Mariners’ pitching depth over the last few seasons has drawn many teams into trade talks and it was almost exactly a year ago that reports surfaced about Boston’s interest in the Seattle rotation.  Nothing materialized between the two teams then, but Ryan Divish and Adam Jude of the Seattle Times report that earlier this offseason, the Red Sox offered first baseman Triston Casas for either Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo.  However, these “exploratory talks” then “didn’t progress any further,” as the M’s don’t have interest in trading from their rotation unless it is something of a last resort.

Given the contrasting strengths and weaknesses of the Mariners and Red Sox, a pitching-for-hitting swap would seem like an ideal answer to both team’s needs.  While Miller or Woo might not be precisely the kind of ace the Sox are looking for to reinforce their rotation, obviously both are talented young arms with upside and team control — neither Miller or Woo is eligible for arbitration yet, and both are controlled through the 2029 season.  Likewise, Casas is controlled through 2028 and has already shown glimpses of his potential at the MLB level.

Seattle president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto has consistently turned down past offers for Miller, Woo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert, and Luis Castillo.  Recent reports suggest that the M’s are at least open to hearing what teams have to say about Castillo (the oldest and highest-paid member of the rotation), but Divish and Jude write that “the Mariners….are not actively shopping Castillo.”

Nothing is stopping Dipoto from hearing what teams might have to say, just in case someone steps forth with an offer too good to refuse.  However, Dipoto told Divish and other reporters today that “our initial reluctance to any type of deeper discussions on trading starting pitching has probably resulted in a lot fewer phone calls than we’ve usually fielded to this point in the offseason.”

The result is perhaps something of a stalemate, as the Mariners are waiting for rival teams to lower their asking prices and other clubs are waiting for the M’s to become more open to the idea of trading from the rotation depth.  Things could evolve once some free agent pitchers come off the board, or perhaps if the Mariners themselves added a pitcher in the form of Roki Sasaki.  While virtually every team in baseball will be making an appeal to the Japanese ace now that his posting window is officially open, Seattle’s track record with both pitching development and star Japanese players would seemingly put the M’s move above most teams in the bidding process.

In the interim, it seems as though the Mariners will continue to focus on trying to trade from its minor league depth, except as Dipoto notes, “it’s the time where prospects aren’t a driver, where just about everybody is focused on major league players.  And I don’t know why that seems different to me now than it usually does, and maybe that too changes in a week or two with the free agent market really opening up.”

Since shortstop J.P. Crawford is the only established member of the Mariners’ infield, landing a promising first base talent like Casas would go a long way towards shoring up the infield and the shaky lineup as a whole.  That said, the Mariners have at least a part-time first base option already in Luke Raley, who looks to be getting a good chunk of playing time against right-handed pitching.

Since the M’s have been linked to such second or third base trade candidates as Nico Hoerner or Alec Bohm, it could be that Seattle might be trying to address one of those positions first before turning to the comparatively easier-to-fill position of first base.  An industry source told Divish and Jude that the Mariners could look into trying to add a third team into talks with the Cubs about Hoerner, perhaps to help cover some of the money owed in the remaining two years of Hoerner’s contract.

From Boston’s perspective, trading Casas wouldn’t necessarily create a vacancy at first base.  Rafael Devers is a subpar defender at third base, and reportedly the Sox have at least considered moving him to first base in order to open up the hot corner either for one of Boston’s up-and-coming infield prospects, or perhaps for a big free agent like Alex Bregman.  This remains a speculative topic for now, as manager Alex Cora told reporters (including Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe) today that he hasn’t spoken with Devers about a position change, and Cora in fact praised Devers’ third base work in 2024 as “outstanding.”

Then again, there is no shortage of gamesmanship going on during the offseason, as it was just last month that Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow downplayed the idea of trading Casas.  Reports then surfaced this past weekend that the Sox were considering the possibility of dealing Casas for pitching, and this apparent offer for Miller or Woo only reinforces the idea that Casas is far from an untouchable part of the Red Sox roster.  Of course, this also isn’t to say that Casas is going to be moved for anything less than a premium return.

Mariners Notes: Urias, Woo, Miller

By | at

Mariners infielder Luis Urias exited last night’s game after taking a 94 mph fastball of his left wrist, but the Mariners announced that he’s been diagnosed with a contusion. X-rays on the wrist were negative, per MLB.com, and he’ll be considered day-to-day for the time being.

The 26-year-old Urias has gotten out to a .160/.300/.400 start this season, striking out 11 times in 30 plate appearances (36.7%) — an uncharacteristically high rate for a player who entered the season with a career 21.6% strikeout rate.

The Mariners entered the season envisioning a platoon of the righty-swinging Urias and lefty-hitting Josh Rojas — a more contact-oriented pairing than the more boom-or-bust nature of since-traded third baseman Eugenio Suarez. Rojas has been one of the team’s bright spots, hitting .311/.392/.422 (148 wRC+) in 51 trips to the plate thus far. Only four of those plate appearances have come against lefties, but if Urias is sidelined for a bit, Rojas could get some more reps against southpaws. Seattle doesn’t have many lefty opponents on the immediate horizon, though they’re slated to face Andrew Heaney on Thursday.

Elsewhere on the injury front, the M’s are getting closer to welcoming righty Bryan Woo back to the staff. The right-hander made his first minor league rehab appearance with Triple-A Tacoma last night, and as broadcaster Mike Curto points out, pitched three perfect innings while fanning five of his nine opponents.

Woo’s fastball ranged from 91-95 mph, per Curto, which is down from last year when he averaged 95.2 mph on his heater. That said, it’s also the first rehab start for a right-hander who’s yet to pitch this season while waiting for some elbow inflammation to calm down, so that’s not necessarily a massive red flag just yet. It’d be natural if he built closer to that velocity as he continued to ramp up over what could be multiple rehab starts between now and his activation.

In place of Woo in the rotation, Seattle has been relying on former top-10 pick Emerson Hancock, who’s posted a 6.10 ERA through four starts, although the vast majority of the damage came in one tough outing against the Brewers. Hancock has yielded a combined seven earned runs through 17 1/3 innings in his other three appearances but was lit up for an eight spot in just 3 1/3 innings that day. He’s sporting a well below-average 16.7% strikeout rate but also an exceptional 3.3% walk rate. Hancock is the least established arm in Seattle’s rotation, trailing Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller — so he’s likely to be the odd man out if everyone’s healthy when Woo returns.

Miller, in particular, has impressed the Mariners this year. He’s pitched to an electric 1.85 ERA with a 26.1% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate in 24 2/3 innings. Miller recently chatted with Adam Jude of the Seattle Times about his incorporation of a new splitter into his repertoire — a pitch that’s been flat-out dominant for the 25-year-old righty so far. Miller has thrown his new pitch at a 19.4% clip this season, finishing off 24 plate appearances with the pitch. Those 24 plate appearances have resulted in 21 outs — eight of them strikeouts — and yielded only three singles. Both Gilbert and Kirby began throwing splitters last season, and Miller has leaned on his teammates for advice and guidance when looking to master his new pitch.

“It kind of has a mind of its own sometimes, but I’ve been able to command it really well,” Miller tells Jude of his new weapon. “So, I’m really happy with it and I think it’s opened up a lot of things for me [against] lefties and righties.”

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top